Despite the seemingly endless and everlasting battle between cat-people and dog-people we can all agree on one thing at least: the internet loves cats.
We won’t even try to argue on that one, we all know it to be true.
These small animals may not be the favorite of the vast majority of people but we have to agree that they have this almost mystical power to hypnotize humans online.
They look adorable when they are grumpy, we laugh to videos of them being startled by a simple cucumber (even if it is a bit mean), and all that cuteness that comes from them can sometimes make even the darkest of our days seem better and more bearable.
Also read: Why are cats so afraid of cucumbers?
They light up our lives in more ways than one.
You have to admit it, even if you are not a “cat person” and would never want to have one of your own, they are still very charming animals.
Some people seem to not stand the love and admiration cats can have though. These same people love to get into debates and rants about how much better dogs are than cats, and that they could never be as loyal as a dog could be.
Could this be true?
Are cats not loyal at all, or do they maybe just show affection differently than we are used to seeing?
Luckily, recent studies on cats attachment behavior have had considerable progress in understanding how these animals relate to us, their humans.
In this article, we will summarize what is known so far when it comes to feline behavior towards their “owners” and how they express themselves.
But firstly it is essential to revisit the conditions and historical context in which these majestic animals have been introduced to humans, and how they managed throughout thousands of years, to eventually nourish a solid relationship with us like we see today.
Table of Contents
How Humans and Cats Got Together In The First Place
If there is one special denominator between any species…..it is food.
It is what we all need in order to survive after all.
Felines are believed to had initiated contact with us with dinner in mind.
It is confirmed that ancestors of the cats we know today started to hang around humans back at the beginning of farming in Mesopotamia, a region situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where now is modern Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria and Turkey.
About 8.000 years ago, in this area also known as Fertile Crescent, humans had discovered that they could settle their families and cultivate the land in spite of keeping on hunting and having to more around constantly.
As these populations of early humans started to develop agriculture, the crops were gradually growing larger and larger, and eventually began to attract unwanted rodents to the plantations.
Wild cats believed to be the ancestors of the cute cats we know of today immediately followed the rodents there to hunt them down.
Researcher Claudio Ottoni, a co-author of a study on cats domestication spread believes that it was not the early humans who had domesticated cats. (1.)
Instead, cat have rather domesticated themselves by approaching these crops and humans had allowed it to happen.
It does seem fitting…
The survey analyzed the DNA of more than 200 cats covering back at least 9.000 years into the past, and discovered two major cat lineages that contributed to the domestic cats we know of today.
One lineage spread from Southeast Asia into Europe starting in 4.400 B.C, and the second lineage dominated the region where now is Egypt by 1.500 BC.
The study also suggests that the human population could have started carrying their cats with them around to control rodents.
Also read: are roses poisonous to cats?
What Science Says About Cat Loyalty?
If you look at the loyalty aspect of these animals from the historical perspective of them only approaching people because of food, you would conclude that a state of dependency was somehow established throughout the years.
A researcher in the Human-Animal interaction Lab in the Oregon State university’s College of Agricultural Science has published a study that, for the first time, had demonstrated cats having the very same attachment behavior to their owners as observed in dogs and babies.
Kirstyn Vitale says: “In both dogs and cats, attachment to humans may represent an adaption of the offspring-caretaker bond”, and continues:
“attachment is a biologically relevant behavior. Our study indicates that when cats live in a state of dependency with a human, that attachment behavior is flexible and the majority of cats use humans as a source of comfort.”
In the study published in 2019, cats were put to the same test that had been given to babies and dogs so that they could understand their attachment behaviors.
The kitties would spend two minutes in a strange and unfamiliar room and then be reunited with their owners again in the end.
For that being a very stressful situation for the cat it would be seeking out their owner for relief and after a while would then start exploring the room again when they felt safe enough to do so.
It is a sign that they felt more confident after realizing their human was there with them, which is sweet.
The same experiment done by replacing the owner for some strange person unknown to the cat would provoke it and make it nervous showing signs of stress such as twitching it’s tail anxiously.
It shows that cats care about their unique humans, and miss them when they are not around, especially when they are in need of support or feeling unsafe.
Are Cats Loyal to Other Cats?
It is well known that dogs are pack animals.
They tend to respect a certain pack hierarchy and will normally be loyal to the pack’s alpha dog.
In the eyes of your dog, you are the alpha dog they will follow to the end of the world without question.
Cat’s on the other hand don’t work like that, and tend to be very autonomous animals in comparison.
Although they would happily demonstrate their loyalty to their caregivers and seek their attention in moments of stress, they won’t show the same behavior concerning other cats.
Cats are lone wolfs and it is wonderful to see the irony in that expression…
Why Are Cats Loyal to People?
Cats are different from dogs when it comes to being loyal.
That happens because felines don’t judge themselves worse than anybody else. In their mind, you are in a position of equity with them and their equal.
Depending on the cat, they may even see you in an inferior position… but that is just the feeling I get from some particular cats…
That is why, unlike dogs, they would show a stronger desire to be loyal to you and only you, as a matter of choice.
Not because they are somehow pre-programmed to show loyalty to you or other humans naturally.
You really must earn a cat’s affection.
They would love you for the security and comfort you may represent to them in their mind. They would see you as a beacon they can walk towards in any stressful situation.
How Do Cats Show Loyalty?
If you expect your cat to show their loyalty and undying affection in the same manner your dog would do, you are in for a disappointment.
Cats don’t tend to be found staring at you in a complete state of amazement or making a huge fuzz about you finally coming home from work.
Some do though, it depends but is less common as it is with dogs.
The cat’s nature is more in line with a type of reciprocity on the humans loyalty to it. In other words, the loyalty you take from your cat is equal to the loyalty you give to it.
Once you show your little house tiger love and respect, it will gradually start to trust you more and show more confidence in you.
Remember, the cat is looking for security and comfort so if you demonstrate you can provide it with these two things you will have a cat ready to create an attachment with you in no time.
The Myth of the Grumpy Cat
We have all gotten to know at least one or two grumpy cats in our lives at some point or another…
Maybe the idea of these animals having anti-social behavior comes from the fact that they have less facial muscles than dogs do, so they are not able to express their emotions as well.
Or is it something else maybe?
You won’t be able to identify a body language in a cat that resembles something like a smile, for example, like you would see in a dog at times.
Cats look like they are upset more often and this is actually normal for them, to look this way that is.
But what we– the people– don’t actually realize is that cats have more in common with us that we could ever imagine!
The range of sociability in cats can be as big as in us humans. They could be very sociable and engage in all sorts of interactions with us if we just give them the chance to.
Some would be a bit sociable, other ones highly sociable and finally there would be the ones with no desire to be social or around us at all.
Finally, some felines would be incredibly insecure and very emotional. They would eventually manifest their insecurities through unusual paths of behavior, like avoiding to get closer to their owners after having been left alone for too long.
Even though a cat is very independent most of the time, it will still come back for the caregiver whom it has a strong bond with looking for security and comfort.
That is the same as saying it loves you, but it would never say it out loud or admit it in any way to you….. typical cat move.
So they are definitely less affectionate and needy than dogs are in this way, but that is also a big reason why so many of us love cats so much.
Especially those of us who are more introverted, or on the lazier side and can’t be bothered to keep a more high maintenance pet.
Cats Show Their Love in their Own Fashion, Like Humans Do
The reality is that cats are fascinating little creatures.
They are so complex and unique that we can not easily control or even comprehend them entirely yet. Maybe that is part of what draws us to them so much, their mystery and enigma.
These animals have managed to create strong relationships with us for thousands of years and we love having them in our homes to this very day.
We allowed them to get closer and closer to us. We carried them through continents, entire new worlds and they have helped us so much in return to deal with what life throws at us.
Depending on the way you choose to look at it, the domestication of cats could also be a little bit of the domestication of humans as well.
The more we learn about cats, and how to understand their behavior better, the more we benefit from the good relationship with them as well.
Reading your cat’s signs of love could be extremely difficult if you are not used to it yet, but don’t worry as it is pretty easy to get the hang of it.
It is incredibly rewarding to do so though, and it will feel like suddenly getting access to some whole new secret forbidden knowledge or an alien language!
You can read more about cat body language here: Cat body language explained.
